Don't expect any massive water tanks to be onstage during Hubbard Hall's new production of "Ondine," even though the premise of Jean Giraudoux's 1938 play is the intermingling of humans with water creatures.

Yet creating the illusion of water, and lots of it, has been one of the principal challenges for director John Hadden, now in his third season as director of the Cambridge-based company.

"I've always thought that creating an enormous, incredible set can actually hurt the play," says Hadden. "If that's the first thing you see, then that's the most exciting moment, and then what happens? If you have much less, then you implicitly ask the audience to go on a fantasy with you."

But first the director has to invite the cast on that same journey.

"The play itself is not underwater, but there are times when the immortals of the sea engage with simple human life," explains Hadden. "When that happens, there are these ondines, these women from the sea who come in."

At the start of rehearsals Hadden asked the women playing the ondines to watch YouTube videos of underwater sea fronds.

"They just move in the current, relating to the waves and to the way that water moves lightly here and there," says Hadden. "I've had the actors practice doing that with the whole body, and that's the basis of how they appear and move around and disappear."

For further ambience, Hadden also decided to use music. But rather than employ a pre-recorded soundtrack of ocean waves, he hired jazz bassist David Cuite.

"The quality of his playing I thought would be exactly right for this play. It's worldly yet gentle and ominous as well," says Hadden, adding that the music isn't just for the aquatic scenes, nor is Cuite hidden offstage. "I've given him free rein and we're still discovering when he fits in. He interacts with the performers and you see him right there in view."

Imaginative productions within limited budgets are a tradition at Hubbard Hall that Hadden is happy to continue.

"I have a completely free hand in choosing the seasons and I can put all my focus on building the acting company and looking at the plays and immersing myself in the artistic work," says Hadden. "It's a great test for an artist, to create more out of less. You have to think about what it is you're really trying to convey, using maybe just an old frame ladder and a couple of chairs. You're forced to come up with solutions."

A 40-year veteran of the theater world, Haden was a founding member of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass. He maintains a home "at the end of a dirt road" in Landgrove, Vt., about an hour from Cambridge.

Hadden's first exposure to the goings-on at Hubbard Hall was in spring 2007. After driving into the village to secure something at the hardware store, he decided on the spur of the moment to take in a performance of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya."

"It knocked my socks off. I'd never seen it so perfectly realized in an America production, and the space was beautifully used," recalls Hadden. "I was completely blown away, just flabbergasted. I was sitting there with my mouth open after the rest of the audience had left. Within the next 15 minutes they asked me to play a role in their next summer production."

Since taking over the reins of the company, Hadden has worked to integrate members of the community into productions, while still bringing in professional actors to the extent his budget allows. He's proud that the lead in "Ondine" is played by Autumn Hausthor, a high school senior from Bennington, Vt.

As for the local audience, its diversity is a relief from the specialized connoisseurs Hadden encounters in larger areas, namely New York.

"We've got a really broad mix of people who are extremely well-read and -traveled, and people who've never seen a play before," he says. "It's rare to have a mix of age, politics and economic level, but you get that at Hubbard Hall. It's very satisfying to know you're making a connection."